It had been a long, emotionally draining visit taking in three countries in Africa, one of them a war zone. On the plane back from Bangui in the Central African Republic, Pope Francis had just finished his customary in-flight press conference and pulled his then press aide Fr Federico Lombardi to one side. 

From my seat at the back of the plane I could see the Pope leaning in and speaking to Fr Lombardi in an intense and frank manner. Quickly the curtain separating economy and the rest of the plane was pulled across, but in those few moments I captured a glimpse of a different Francis.